Much the Same

JP is at Krav Maga. He's gone like 6 days a week since he started, he really can't do anything half-assed, unlike his wife, who is excellent at half-assing all things exercise, and I am torn between downloading another book (and likely staying up past midnight reading it) or updating my blog and going to bed at a reasonable hour. I'm choosing the latter because I've been getting very little sleep lately and I really miss this space when I don't visit for a few days, but I feel sort of silly writing when I don't have much to say.

May I present this picture of a rhino from Landon instead?

Things are good. They are just really very good. Everything is ready for our baby girl (7 weeks from tonight she'll be snuggled in my arms!). I'm feeling great- the best I've ever felt during a pregnancy, I may even turn into one of those annoying people who thinks they even like having a 20 lb. basketball sticking out from their stomach (except no, I can't take it that far, but I will admit to not hating it this time around, and that's a big and strange step for me). I'm planning a real family vacation for the last week of my maternity leave in February and I am SO EXCITED about it, even if it involves driving 14 hours each way with 3 kids, including one personality-unknown 3-month-old. There is little JP loves more than throwing our kids in the car and driving somewhere fun and far away. And not just because he's afraid of flying, he just really likes taking the kids places. He won't run an errand without them. It's one of my favorite things about him (even as I, a sane person, generally run errands when they're sleeping or at school.)

My crew, on a much shorter adventure this past weekend

Landon's after school program still hasn't started, which is challenging, but with the help of one very nice stay-at-home mom of a classmate, one of JP's instructors with a gap in her teaching schedule right when Landon gets out of school, and my own understanding and flexible work schedule, we're managing. Supposedly it will start on Monday. The 6th week of school. But it's been nice to get some extra time with my little/big guy.

He sees a "muscle" coat and superhero boots;
I see consignment store ski items I was VERY excited to find for $15/each

Our weekend was absurdly beautiful. Highs in the 80's, bright blue skies, a long-awaited break from the humidity. We did hours of yard work, went on 4 walks, went to the park, and baked pumpkin spice cupcakes with vanilla cream cheese pumpkins. First day in the 70's = Fall = Pumpkin. It's science.

Old-fashioned merry-go-round at the park.
Landon loves it; Claire understands it's really a death trap

JP and I watched two movies after the kids went to bed- World War Z and Star Trek, so he owes me a chick flick or three. Thank goodness for 7:30 bedtimes and very deep sleepers. We do a lot of in-home movie dates, though the kids are constantly trying to kick us out of the house for real ones- there is little they love more than having people come visit them at our house, which is how they, with their genuine love for people and lack of understanding about money, rather charmingly view babysitters. 

In partial payment for watching a movie involving a lot of zombies and people-eating, I dragged JP on a family trip to the mall on Sunday to buy him jeans. He hasn't bought new jeans (or really, any clothing) since 2005 and as I tried to explain on the drive over, he simply looks too good in them to wear ones so worn out and saggy.

Irrelevant, but I think this shoebill bird would also look good in jeans

The kids remain pretty awesome (Claire's new favorite word is awesome; everything is awesome and it cracks me up every time she says it). Age six appears to be a more... emotional age than five, which is interesting as Landon as never been a kid prone to tantrums or emotional lows. He's still his sweet and happy self most of the time, but he will occasionally lose his shit over something in a way that is both breathtaking and frustrating (and often amusing) to behold. Claire alternates between judging him and trying to comfort him, which is also generally amusing.

Zoo magazine delivery day!

We watched my friend and co-worker's 3-month-old baby one night last week while she had an event at her older daughter's school. The kids were SO excited to host the baby and he was quite the man of the hour. They took turns holding him, sang him many songs, and brought him every toy from our bin of infant toys in the nursery. He went to sleep without any fuss in our baby girl's future crib at 8 p.m. and JP and I decided that if we can just get a happy, chubby 3-month-old who comes to us already fed and bathed in the evening, we're pretty sure we can TOTALLY do this 3 kids thing.

Playing with mommy's old dollhouse set;
their discussion of item placement was both entertaining and informative

While the stork works on that, we're just enjoying the two kids we've already got, soaking up Fall and its pumpkin infused desserts, and learning how to defend ourselves in a knife fight (actually, only one of us is doing that, but I'm learning a lot about how to solve fictional homicides, which is basically the same thing).

Fall floral volunteers we managed to not kill during our weekend yard work

At least in another month I can post about kids in costumes and the impending arrival of our little girl. Until then, things seem pretty uneventful around here. Though after re-reading some of my archives from last fall, uneventful is nothing I'm going to complain about, even if I do miss having more reason to write.